Barbra Gordon: Exceptional Indeed
by Princess Sarcastia
Summary: Barbra Gordon and Dick Grayson are best friends, and had been almost since the day they met. And even after she finds out that he is Robin, even after she becomes Batgirl, even after they join the Team at Mount Justice, when it comes down to it, that's what they are, what they always will be no matter what happens, where they are or what they do: They will always be friends.
1. Chapter 1

Robin stumbled onto the roof top next to him, barely able to hold onto the shreds of consciousness that he had left.

In the back of his mind, he knew that he wouldn't be able to make it back to the Batcave, and he hadn't been able to recover his utility belt after he escaped his confinements, so calling Batman was out. All he had now was his backpack with civilian clothes in it.

He slumped on the ledge right behind him and tried to figure out what to do. He knew that if he didn't get help soon, it would be bad. Not to mention that those men that had captured him might still be after him.

Suddenly he got an idea. It was a stupid idea, and when Batman found out he would probably kill him, but at this point it was his only option.

Slowly, so as to not disturb his most likely dislocated shoulder, he swung his backpack around so he could grab the civilian clothes. Getting out of his uniform and into those was agonizing and seemed to him to take hours. But he managed, then packed his Robin outfit into the backpack. He reached up then and took his mask off, completing the change into Dick Grayson.

Dick walked over to the fire escape and made it to the sidewalk. Sticking to the shadows, he made his way towards one of the only people he could trust, towards the only place that he would be safe.

His vision was blurring in and out by the time he made it to the right building. Walking up the stairs of the apartment building proved near impossible, but he made it to the door, slumping against it for a moment. Then he slowly raised his hand and knocked on the door. After a moment, he heard uncertain footsteps making their way towards him from the other side of the door. Nearly weeping with relief, he straightened and tried to look like he wasn't seconds from passing out.

But it was no use; when the red-head on the other side opened the door, her hand flew to her mouth and she gasped, before rushing to his side to hold him up.

Dick grinned slightly his vision faded out. His last thought was, "Babs always did know when I was in trouble."

_

Barbra Gordon didn't know what to think when she saw her best friend standing outside her door at two in the morning, looking like he had been beaten half to death. But she saw the sleepy, closed off look in his eye and knew that he was about to pass out. Rushing over to him, she slipped her arm under him just as consciousness gave way to his injuries.

She shook her head to ward off unwanted thoughts. Barbra could puzzle it out later; right now, all that mattered was that he needed her help.

She half-dragged, half-carried him over to the small bathroom she and her dad shared. She bunched up a towel, then laid his head down on it as she left to get the first-aid kit. When she came back, she got to work.

The first thing she did was gently clean the blood off of his face to reveal the busted lip ad possibly broken nose. She fingered the latter gently, and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt that it wasn't. The blood from both of these had already stopped flowing. There wasn't much she could do for either, so she moved on.

Barbra hesitated slightly before stripping him down to his boxers so she could clean him up completely. And had to choke back a sob.

He was bruised, cut and bloody down to his very toes. The worst seemed to be a cut in his belly. It looked like it had come from a knife. Determining that it would need stitches, Barbra set to work.

Her Dad, being police commissioner, had insisted she learn not only to defend herself, but that she also know how to treat nearly every kind of wound. Grabbing the special thread and needle from the kit, she got to work, biting her lip the whole time. When she finished, she was relieved and slightly worried at the same time. On the one hand, if he had woken up during this, it would have just quiet a bit. On the other, the pain should have been enough that he was drawn back into consciousness. His injuries must have been more serious than she thought.

Moving on, she cleaned, stitched, and bandage every wound she could find. When she was satisfied, she looked over at his clothes, wondering if she should dress him again, but the state of them made her throw that out the window.

Barbara quickly picked him up and staggered into her room, lying him down on the bed. But she still felt like there was more she could do. He would be in do much pain when he woke up…

She momentarily brightened when her brain conjured up a few ideas. Racing into the kitchen, Barbra filled several small bags with ice, then raced back into her bedroom and placed them on some of the nastier looking wounds. Then she went back to the kitchen.

As she rummaged through the medicine cabinet, Barbra was, for the first time in her life, glad that her dad worked so late. If he came home sand saw this… She shuddered at the thought.

Finally finding the ibuprofen, she shook out around six pills. Then she went and grabbed the trophy from her last karate tournament and crushed the pills until they were no more than a fine powder.

Satisfied, she then got out a huge glass of water and a straw, then mixed the powdered pills into it. Walking back to her room, she set the glass on her nightstand, then shook Dick gently. "Dick. Dick, you need to get up now. Dick."

Sighing, she realized that this would not work. Her option here were very limited. If she yelled, she might wake their neighbors. If she shook him any harder, she could hurt him more that he already was. Barbra was about to give up when she remembered that her dad had put smelling salts in the first aid kit.

After getting them from the bathroom, she held them right under Dick's nose for almost two minuets when he finally stated to stir. "Whaaa?" He mumbled, trying to sit up, then wincing. "Where am I?"

Barbra made soothing noises as she helped him sit up. "You're safe, Dick. I need you to drink this and then you can go right back to sleep." She handed him the glass of water and ibuprofen. He nodded slowly, relaxing the minuet he recognized his friend's voice. Grabbing the glass, he slowly put the straw in his mouth and started drinking.

He was almost half way through when he paused. "This tastes funny. What's in it?"

Barbra smiled at her friend's attentiveness, even when he was half unconscious and beaten to a pulp. "It's just some ibuprofen. It'll help you feel better in the morning."

He nodded, then finished the drink. His eyes immediately started to droop, so she took the glass from him, then set it on the nightstand again. He sighed, then leaned back down and went back to sleep.

Barbra smiled, then settled into the chair in the corner. For now, she was content to just sit and watch over her friend as he slept.

Dick slowly came to a few hours later. Without opening his eyes, he could tell that he wasn't in the cave, or in his room, and tensed. His eyes shot open and he jumped out of the bed he was lying on, only to fall back when his stomach screamed in protest.

He groaned and fell back onto the bed. Slowly, he leaned down and looked. There was a line of jagged stitching on his stomach. While it wasn't pretty, he could tell that it had been done by someone who knew what they were doing.

"Hey," Barbra said, causing Dick to jump in shock. He turned and looked at her, no longer fearful but still tense.

She looked at him for a moment while he stared right back at her. She studied him from head to toe. His bruises looked worse than they had last night, but she could tell that overall the ice and ibuprofen had done the trick. Well, done the trick as much as they could.

Seemingly finished in looking him over, she started talking. "My dad is working hard on another case, so he won't be home until tonight at the earliest. It's a saturday so we can both miss school while you recover. You need to stay here at least until you can go home without having someone call an ambulance. Your clothes are in the washer right now; the stain remover should do the trick for the blood."

Dick slowly blinked, then spoke. "You seem to be taking this rather calmly."

She looked at him for a moment, again, then, "I knew that even if I pestered you, you wouldn't answer. And that you may not come to me for help if you need it if I persisted."

He looked sheepish, but she knew that she was right. "I don't have to stay here. I mean, I wouldn't want to impose. Just point me in the direction of your phone and Alfred'l be here in moments."

Dick watched as a look came over her face that he had never seen before. It was scary, yet comforting at the same time. It was almost… motherly. "I'm going to ask you a question, Richard."

He looked uncomfortable, both at her use of his name and the thought of having to answer a question. "Look Babs, I—"

She cut him off. "If you want a phone call, you have to answer it. And don't even think about trying to get past me. You're barely in any shape to be breathing."

He sighed, then nodded. "Alright. Fire away."

She breathed in. "Did Bruce do this to you?"

Dick made a sort of choking sound, then burst out laughing. "What, Bruce? You think that Bruce did—" He kept laughing for a moment, then winced and clutched his ribs. "Ouch. Laughing is painful. But seriously, Barbra, Bruce would never do this kind of thing." To me, he added silently.

Her face relaxed, then broke into a smile. "Oh, good. For a minuet there I thought you'd have to come live with me. And boy, would that have been awkward!"

He grinned too. "Yeah, totally. So, now that we've established that Bruce didn't try to kill me, can I have a phone?"

She looked thoughtful. "You can have the phone after your clothes are clean and dry."

"But—"

"Look, you need to just sit there for a little bit. And I know that the moment Alfred knows where you are, he'll drop everything and drag you out of here. But I'm afraid that if you move too much too soon, you'll get hurt. Now please, will you just wait an hour or so?"

He sighed. She did have a point. And it would be nice to just hang with Barbra for once; no school, no parents, no having to leave to go save Gotham…

"Alright. What do you suggest we do instead?"

The two were deep into a game of Go Fish when the dryer went off forty minuets later. Barbra smiled. "That'll be your clothes!" She jumped off the bed and went to go get them. As she walked out the door he glanced after her and reached for her cards.

"And keep your mitts off my hand, Grayson!"

He jerked his hand back, then grinned. She always knew.

Walking back into the room, she handed him a slightly warm pair of pants, shirt, and hoodie. He stared at them for a moment, then looked down at himself. Dick wasn't quite sure that he could get his clothes on himself. "Uhh, could you give me a hand with this?"

She looked slightly uncomfortable at this, but shook it off. She'd seen him in his underwear, helping him dress shouldn't be a big deal. Shrugging, she picked up the shirt and gestured for him to lean foreword. She pulled the shirt over his head, then gently eased his arms into the hoodie.

The pants, however, he managed to get on by himself. Looking over at Barbra, he saw she had gone off to get the phone.

_

Alfred stared at the young master as he gingerly lowered himself into the back seat. While his face looked like it had been hit with a crowbar, he seemed largely content, almost happy. Waving to the red-headed girl hanging out of one of the apartment building's windows, he pulled the door shut.

Alfred slowly pulled away from the curb, turning into the relatively light traffic of Gotham in the morning. Clearing his throat, he asked, "Are you all right, Master Dick? Master Bruce was certain that when we found you you would require immediate medical attention."

He looked up. "Oh, yeah… Barbra kind of took care of that. I knew I wouldn't make it back to the cave before I passed out, so I changed into civvies and went to her house. Passed out for a few hours, then woke up in Babs's bed all patched up. She insisted I wait for my clothes before you came and picked me up, otherwise I would have called sooner."

Alfred was concerned. "Does she now know of your nightly activities, Master Dick?"

Dick looked a bit puzzled. "No, Alfred. In fact, the only question she asked was whether Bruce did this or not." The young boy chuckled slightly. "She didn't ask, and I didn't tell."

Alfred smiled slightly, knowing that Miss Gordon was going to be an even more exceptional person than he had once thought. Which would make her exceptional indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

Barbra was looking down at the street in front of her as she walked home. When she had left the library, she hadn't realized that it was so late. Almost eight o'clock. Her Dad was going to kill her for walking the streets of Gotham alone at this hour.

In the cold winter months, it got darker quicker, and that led to the criminal element coming out earlier. Being the police commissioner, he had no illusions as to what went on out on the streets of his city.

She turned her head sharply when she heard a noise behind her. But when she turned around, there was no one there. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her. But still, she walked a bit faster just to be safe.

Barbra shifted her backpack. Due to the fact that she was taking three extra courses in eighth grade, her book bag was always ready to burst at the seams. And it was absolutely killing her back.

She stopped completely as she heard a creepy chuckle from behind her. Turning her head slightly, she caught a glance of a very, very large man in a ski mask behind her. Knowing that pretending she hadn't noticed him wasn't going to work, Barbra took off at a sprint.

Unfortunately, she was never the best runner in the first place; add on to that the fact that her backpack weighed about fifteen pounds right now, and you get one very slow, very scared girl.

But still, she managed to stay ahead of him for almost three blocks… until another very, very large man in a ski mask appeared in front of her. And to the side across the street. Acting on instinct, she ducked into the alley next to her.

Stupid, stupid move, Barbra, she thought as she stared at the brick wall currently blocking her escape. Mentally face-palming, she quickly turned around then backed against the wall so they couldn't circle behind her.

Smiling throughout her fear and mentally reviewing every self-defense, karate, and jujitsu class she had ever take, Barbra said, "Well, gentlemen. What can I do for you?"

The so-called 'gentlemen' had doubled while she was entering the alley. There were now seven very, very large men in ski masks standing before her. And each of them was slowly reaching inside their jackets for what she could only assume was a gun. "We're tired of your pa's interference in our work, little girl. People like him, they stop honest fellas like us from making a quick buck!"  
She nodded hurriedly, mentally apologizing to her dad. "Yeah, he's a real bastard. Why he can't just leave you wonderful people alone I will never understand. You know what, I agree with you so much I'll even talk to him for you. Just, ah, let me outta here and I'll make sure he never so much as looks at you. How's that sound?"

The apparent mouthpiece of this group chuckled slowly and sinisterly. "Now, why would he listen to you? I think we should just tell him ourselves. But, you know what, since you're so eager to help out," He said grinning, "I'll even let you be part of the message."

Taking that as their cue, the men slowly started to advance on her. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. You can do this, Barbra. You can do this. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders and gripped it tightly with both hands. All those books were hopefully about to pay off.

She suddenly opened her youth and screamed like a banshee. And kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming at the top of her lungs as she swung in a circle and launched her bag right into the closest thug. It hit him with a surprisingly loud crack! and he went down for a moment, clutching his side.

Still screaming, hoping that first, someone would notice and call the police and second, that it would throw the men before her off, she ran at the next-closest thug and swung her leg right up where it hurt. Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast, and hit 'em where it hurts, her self defense teacher always said. As he collapsed, she rammed her knee up into his nose and then he was screaming almost as loud as he was.

The rest of his friends were slightly surprised at the fact that she was fighting back. And slightly that she hadn't run out of breath by now. Using that to her advantage, she ran at them. But, scared as she was, her throws were wild and rarely hit anything solid. They backed out of her range and then, almost simultaneously, clicked the safeties off their pistols. She froze, knowing that she wouldn't be able to dodge bullets. One of the men that she had managed to hit now had a bloody nose, but managed to grin creepily through the blood gushing down his face. "I'm gonna enjoy—"

He was cut off as a small figure in a bright red leotard jump down on top of his shoulders and use his legs to hurl him to the ground. The man made a slight choking sound, then was still as he lost consciousness from lack of oxygen.

The three that were left slowly backed away as they realized who it was. Sure, they wanted to off the Commish's kid, but they never signed up to fight the Boy Wonder. No one in their right mind would. And it wasn't just because he was an amazingly talented fighter who could probably take them down in seconds; though that did hold a certain amount of weight. No, no one in their right mind would sign up to fight Robin because wherever Robin was, He was sure to follow. The big man. The Batman.

They tried to fire off shots at the young caped crusader, but he was having none of it. Throwing three batarangs simultaneously, he disarmed them, then threw himself towards the masked thugs.

Barbra watched this all unfold with wide-eyed interest and a growing suspicion. Robin's acrobatics, his height, his jet-black hair, all screamed Dick Grayson. But what sealed the deal was the cackle the Boy Wonder let loose. It was exactly the one that Dick used when he played pranks on her, their classmates, their teachers. It just jumped up and screamed Dick.

Barbra waited until the thugs were surely unconscious before deciding to put he theory to the test. "Hey, Dick?"

Robin, or Dick, as his reaction proved, turned his head and said, "Yea- oh, dammit!" He exclaimed, realizing what he had done. "Man, Bats is gonna kill me…"

Barbra smiled, then ran over to her friend. "Ha! I totally guessed it, didn't I? And it's the first time I've even seen your alter ego, too!"

Dick sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Yeah, I made sure you never did. I knew that you were smart enough to figure it out, especially since you know me."

Barbra had a sudden revelation. "So that means that—"

Dick nodded. "Yup."

Barbra looked giddy. Then a look came over her face that made Dick want to lock her in a closet, then run as far as he could n the other direction.

She looked around at the men that were lying unconscious on the ground around them. "You know, I was doing pretty well here before you showed up. With the right training…"

Dick quickly spoke up. "No. No way. Uh uh. Oh, no."

Barbra grinned at him. "Oh, yes!"  
Dick shook his head vehemently. "Never. Never in a million years."

Barbra looked him up and down, then smiled. "Ten bucks says you're wrong."

Dick studied her back, then had a sudden realization. Barbra would have to get BRUCE to agree! "I'll take that bet." He said, shaking her outstretched hand.

_

Two months later, Barbra Gordon, having donned her cape and cowl for the first time, turned to the the young man sitting beside her and held out her hand expectantly. "Pay up, Robin."

Dick sighed, then dug in his belt for a ten dollar bill. He slapped it down on her outstretched hand without even looking away from his vigil on the streets. As she was putting in into her newly earned utility belt, he said, "Welcome to the team, Batgirl."

She looked up at him the same time he looked over at her, and they grinned at each other, silently reveling in the fact that they could now fight the evil of this city together.

A scream sounded off in the distance, interrupted the two grinning Bats. Turning, they fired their grappling guns in unison and swung into the black night of Gotham.


	3. Chapter 3

Barbra descended into the Batcave, hoping to get in some training tonight, as well as catch a glimpse of Dick. Ever since he had joined that team, she had been seeing less and less of him. Sure, they hung out at school, but they couldn't really talk. And he hadn't been showing up for patrol, deciding to instead hang out with his new friends.

It didn't really bother her that he had made new friends; she wasn't a needy person. It didn't even bother her that he seemed to want to spend more time with them than with her. All that really mattered was that she missed her friend.

Coming to a stop as she entered the Batcave, Barbra looked around. Bruce was nowhere to be found, and Alfred had gone out as soon as she arrived, claiming that he had errands that he needed to run. She was about to veer over to the training area when she heard sniffling coming from above her.

Peering into the darkness, she thought she caught a glimpse of yellow and frowned to herself. Why was Dick crying?

She dropped her gym bag and ran over to the nearest support beam. Shimmying up the red-iron, she pulled herself up onto the beam that Dick was sitting on.

Sitting down next to him, she wondered how to proceed. She could either ignore his tears and act like nothing was wrong, which was probably what he wanted. Or, she could ask him what was wrong and demand that he talk it out, which was what he really needed.

She placed a hand on his back. "Hey, Dick. What's wrong?"

He stayed silent for a moment. He really didn't want to talk about this. It was all his fault. But this was Babs… She could never hate him. Right?

So he spilled about the mission. How it had all been a training simulation. How M'gaan had taken control after the death of her best friend, Artemis. How Aqualad had sacrificed himself for them. And how he had used Superboy as bait, how he had led his friend Wally to his death. How he didn't know if he could do that ever again.

She held on to him the whole time, making soothing noises as he dissolved into a sobbing mess. "It's okay. I will be alright."

He slowly calmed down, still leaning into Barbra. "Thank you."

She felt puzzled. "For what?"  
Dick smiled sadly. "For listening to me. For not yelling at me."

Barbra stared at him. "Why would I yell at you?" Looking at his face, she realized what was going on. "Dick, look at me."

He pulled away, fearing what she would say. She looked at him. "Richard Grayson, let me make one thing clear: None of that was your fault. None of it. You hear? You did the best you could with what you had. No one could ever blame you for what happened. And if they do…"

He looked over at her. "What?"

She looked back seriously. "I will find them. I will string them up. And then I will personally deliver them to the Joker's cell in Arkham."

He laughed for a moment. "Thanks, Babs. That helps." He looked over at her quizzically when he noticed that she wasn't laughing with him. "You were joking… right?"

She smiled at him evilly. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Wonder Bread."

He stared at her in mock-fear, then flung himself off the support beam with his signature cackle. "Catch me if you can!"

She smiled and shook her head. He was such a troll.

Then she jumped after him, laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

Dick slowly moved throughout the streets of Gotham, approaching the supposedly out of order phone booth that would transport him to the cave.

Batman had tried his hardest to be able to be here today, but he had been called away on a mission. It was almost with it though, to see the look that Flash got on his face after he told Batman. Complete mortal terror… priceless.

Nevertheless, he still felt alone and slightly abandoned as he came to a stop next to the phone booth. Putting his dark sunglasses on, he completed his transformation from Dick Grayson, mourning child of two dead parents, to Robin, fearless Boy Wonder, the kid who always had a smile on his face.

But even then, he couldn't muster up the will to smile as the computer transported him to Mount Justice.

He drudged into the mission room, seeing that his team had meandered over after hearing the computer announce his arrival.

Wally looked over at him solemnly. He, out of all the others, knew what today was, and how crushed he felt that Batman was not around to help him through it. Wally looked like he wanted to speak up, but Dick silenced him with a look. He didn't want the others clued in on what was going on.

M'gaan smiled at him. "Hey, Robin! Do you want to…" She trailed off as Robin showed no inclination that he had heard her. He just stared off into space for a moment, completely ignoring his friend's attempts to draw him into the conversation.

After a moment, they stopped trying and just stared at him, wondering what was wrong with their usually cheerful friend.

He shook off the wave of sadness that had overtaken him and looked back at his friends. "I'm just gonna go lie down. Patrol ran late last night."

His friends looked even more worried at his blatant lie. Not just because he felt the need to lie, but because he was doing it so poorly that they could tell.

Kaldur stepped foreword. "My friend, are you quite—"

He held up a finger with one hand, then move his other to his ear. "This is Robin. Go ahead."

Dick winced as Barbra started shouting in his ear. "Where are you?"

He sighed. "Look, I'm at the Cave. Really, Bab's, I'll be fine!"

She raised her voice even more, making him want to pull his communicator out of his ear. "They have no idea what's going inn today! You shouldn't be alone, today of all days!" He could almost imagine her wagging her finger at him.

"Really, it's fine. Look, I have to go."

"Oh, don't you dare hang up on me you—"

He pressed a button and her voice was cut off, much to the relief of his eardrums. He looked over at his team, all of whom were giving him weird looks. Then he slowly walked passed them, trudging through the cave to his room.

Once he reached his room, he locked the door as soon as it shut with his computer. Then he reached up and slowly took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes as he tried desperately not to cry; but is was no use. Tears poured silently from his eyes as he laid down on his bed, the image of his parents falling running over and over in his mind.

_

The team stared after their youngest member in silence. Then Artemis spoke up. "What the heck was that?"

Kaldur sighed. "I do not know. But whatever it is, it troubles him deeply."

M'gaan looked like she was about to cry. "I could feel the pain rolling off him in waves. It was just so… devastating."

Wally looked over at her sharply. "You read his mind?"

She looked up wide eyed. "What? No, of course not. It was just so strong that I could sense it even without entering his mind."

Superboy looked over at Wally. "What about you? Do you know what's going on?"

Wally eyed them nervously. "Ahh, no. I mean, of course not."

Artemis eyed him suspiciously. "Hold on a minuet. The way you looked at him when he showed up…You know what's wrong!"

Wally held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Look guys. Even if I did know, which I'm not saying I do, it's not really my place to tell you."

Kaldur looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. It is not our place to pry into his personal life."

M'gaan looked confused. "But, if Robin is hurting, shouldn't we try to comfort him? As his friends?"

The argument was about to continue when the Zeta-Tubes lit up again.

"Recognized, B10"

Artemis's face screwed up. "Why didn't it say a name?"

The lights faded and the team saw a petite, red-headed girl stood before them. "Because I hacked the system and told it not to."

They all stood at the ready, not knowing who this mysterious girl was. She snorted. "Oh, please. You couldn't take me if you tried. Besides, I'm not here. So move."

When they showed no inclination of moving, she huffed and reached a hand to her ear. "Hey Wonder Bread! Get down here and tell your friends to get out of the way."

Artemis eyed the rest of them out of the corner of her eyes and mouthed, 'Wonder Bread?'

They shrugged and turned their attention back to the girl. But she had disappeared.

"Dang it!" Conor exclaimed.

Wally's eyes widened. "Wait, if she's not here for us, then she must be here for Robin!"

They all froze for a moment, then raced to his room.

_  
Robin was stifling sobs when his door opened. "I thought that I locked that…" He murmured.

Barbra burst into the room, spotting Dick on the bed immediately. "Hey, Wonder Bread! Why didn't you answer your comms?"

He slowly reached up and wiped the tears off his cheeks. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "What, did you really think that I'd leave you alone today?"

Dick slowly blinked, not answering her. She sighed, then gestured for him to follow her. When he didn't respond, Barbra reached down and yanked on his arm, pulling him down the hallway.

As they walked through the halls of Mount Justice, a thought slowly occurred to him. "How do you know your way around here?"

She answered without looking back. "I hacked into the Justice League database and memorized the floor plans."

Usually he would have replied with some witty comment, but now just stayed silent. Barbra knew how he got when this day came around; every year it was the same. But every year, she still worried about him anyway.

And with Bruce off on some League mission, it was going to be even worse. So, she had devised a plan to get his spirits up.

Barbra finally pulled him to a stop as they came to their destination.

Dick slowly blinked. "Why are we in the training room?"

She grinned slowly. "Hit me."

This startled him out of his stupor for the moment. "What? Why in the world would I hit you, Babs?"

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, just hit me."

Dick became exasperated. "So, what, you disobeyed Batman's direct orders, and barged in on me uninvited, today of all days, because you wanted to spar?"

Barbra paused with her mouth open for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Then she shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Dick stared at her, unblinking. She stared back.

After almost a minuet of this, she cleared her throat. "Not that I don't just love staring into extremely dark sunglasses, but are you going to hit me or not?"

He continued staring at her, then slowly turned around and said, "I'm going back to my room, crazy lady. I'll see you tomorrow."

She stared after him, frustrated. This wasn't part of the plan! Oh well, she thought to herself. Time to improvise.

She ran straight at him, yelling at the top of her lungs. Reaching over to grab him, she flipped him over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground.

"C'mon, can't you do better than that?"

Unfortunately for her, the team chose that moment to enter the room. Seeing her attack their friend, they all rushed at her.

Wally dashed in first, pushing her away from his friend. But Barbra simply smiled and stuck out her leg as he passed, tripping him. Wally stumbled and fell to the floor, face planting on the hard concrete.

Artemis started shooting arrows at her, but she simply dodged out of the way, while also avoiding strikes from Kaldur and Connor, both of whom were trying to engage her in hand-to-hand combat.

She continued dancing around them, almost missing the camouflaged Martian still floating in the door way.

M'gaan had been hoping the the attacks from the others would distract the intruder long enough for her to get inside her mind. But as she extended her powers towards the girl, she felt a wall of sorts erected around her thoughts.

Barbra sensed the presence trying to break into her mind and sent out a thought. 'Ah ah ah, Miss Martian. You're never getting in here.'

M'gaan gasped. How had this human managed to not only detect her presence, but block it as well? Come to think of it, the wal around her mind was very similar to the one around Robin's…  
M'gaan gasped as a thought occurred to her. She reached out to the intruder telepathically again. 'Who are you? Why are you here?'

Barbra considered it for a moment. Eventually, she would be able to defeat them, but by the time that happened, Robin could have slipped away again.  
Sighing, she released a series of thoughts and feelings, trying to convey the answer without allowing Miss Martian access to her mind.

M'gaan was slightly taken aback. For a human, this girl had an impressive mastery of her thoughts. She had sent M'gaan a message, the gist of which was that Robin was in pain, and this girl, Batgirl she called herself, was here to help.  
M'gaan sensed no malicious intent form her, only concern for Robin. Realizing that they had made a mistake, M'gaan quickly reached out to the minds of her teammates.

"Guys, wait! I think she's—"

Just then, Dick recovered from his crash into the floor. He looked upp and saw that all hell had broken loose.

Wally was groaning on the floor off the training mats. While Barbra had been kind enough to slam him into the rubbery surface, Wally had not been so lucky. Blood was slowly trickling out of his nose as he lied on the floor.

Artemis was standing a ways back, firing arrow after arrow at Barbra. While she continued to miss, due to Barbra's twisting and turning, each shot was closer and closer to the intended target. Soon Barbra would misstep, or Artemis would get lucky.

Kaldur and Connor were still trying to attack her. It was getting annoying. I mean, she had met Aqualad a few months back! But since she was out of costume, apparently he wasn't able to recognize her. Kaldur circled her, throwing in the occasional kick or swipe in her direction. Connor was going for the more direct approach. Punching and grabbing at her, he began to lose control and hit a little harder than he meant to. Or, he tried to. The intruder ducked and his extra momentum threw him into Kaldur, knocking both of them across the room and into the wall. As their heads rang, they heard something that sounded a lot like M'gaan in their heads, but were too shaken to notice.

Artemis felt the mind-link go up, then heard M'gaan's message. It caused her to lose concentration and she accidentally fired a regular arrow.

She gasped and felt a wave of shock go through her as the girl didn't turn from where she was looking after Kaldur and Connor, almost in concern. It was going to hit her!

Just as she was about to yell a warning, a birdarang shot from Robin's hand and knocked the arrow into the ground beside the girl. She didn't even flinch, just turned to Robin and smiled. "Thanks, Rob. See you're back with us, then."

Robin sighed and shook his head as he pushed himself to his feet. "What are you thinking? Did you even try to talk to them before you ran off to my room?"

Barbra blinked innocently. "No. I was far too concerned with finding you."

He rolled his eyes, then winced slightly. Between banging his head and all the crying from earlier, his head was starting to throb. Barbra noticed the wince and smirked slightly. "You were easier to take down than I thought. I mean, I barely had to do anything."

Robin snorted. "Yeah, right. I let you get that close."

Barbra turned her head to the side. "Prove it, Boy Wonder."

Robin smiled slightly for almost the first time that day. The he suddenly flipped through the air and came down on his friend.

_

The team slowly shook off their slight injuries as they gathered to watch the two fight. They had almost been creamed by this girl, and she hadn't even been trying! Now she and Robin were locked in combat, circling and flipping and tumbling throughout the air as they etched tried to gain the upper hand. It was almost a dance.

M'gaan smiled as the girl, Batgirl, achieved what M'gaan had thought was her plan all along. The other's noticed and looked over at her.

"M'gaan, do you know what is going on?" Kaldur asked.

She nodded. "Batgirl told me when I tried to access her mind. She said—"

Wally interrupted. "Woah, woah, woah. Wait a minuet. So her name's Batgirl?"

M'gaan huffed impatiently. "Yes! And she's not here to hurt us."

Wally glared incredulously. "Really? Cause my bleeding nose says otherwise!"

Artemis tore her gaze away from the dueling pair in the center of the room. "Actually, I got the sense that she was holding back. I mean, all she did was dodge our attacks; she never went on the offensive."

Connor spoke up. "Then how do you explain Kaldur and me getting thrown into a wall?!"

Artemis smirked. "That was all you, Superboy. All this Batgirl did was duck out of the way."

He crossed his arms and looked back at the fight.

M'gaan smiled at him slightly before turning back to the rest of them. "As I was saying, she's not here to hurt us. From what I gathered from her message to me, all she is here to do is cheer Robin up. He's really sad today, for some reason, and Batgirl came here hoping to cause a big mess and distract him from what he's feeling."

Wally glanced over at them, nodding. That was actually a good plan. Nothing absorbed him more than a fight. Well, except for acrobatics, but those two seemed to be getting plenty of that in as well.

Dick and Barbra were sill duking it out. They circled and spun, dodging attack from one another. He flipped over her and she spun to face him. She kicked out at his head and he leaned way back, her shoe just missing his nose by inches.

After a solid half hour of this, they were both gleaming with sweat and breathing heavily, but showed no signs of slowing down. Barbra decided to subtly let her guard down, so as to not alert him to what she was doing. If he knew she was going to let him win, he'd get angry and this all would have been for nothing.

And he dove after her, she slowed her reaction time just enough for him to catch her. Flying through the air, she landed on the mats with a thud, Dick straddling her hips and holding her arms out to the side.

She grinned up at him, and he smiled back. A real smile. It seems that. for the moment, her plan had worked.

He leaped off her, then reached down to help her get back on her feet. She accepted gratefully, pulling herself up. "Thanks, Robin."  
He nodded. They stood there for a moment, just looking at each other. The team watched silently, trying to figure out what was going on, and also feel in slightly like they were intruding.

Barbra smiled at him. "Hey, if you're not tired yet, I think Penguin broke out of Arkham. Again."

Dick grinned wickedly and cackled. "Definitely. But didn't Batman say that we couldn't patrol while he was gone?"

She looked at him slyly. "Hey, what Bats doesn't know, won't hurt him."

"Or us," He replied dryly. "Alright, lets go."

They raced off to the Zeta-Tubes, disappearing to Gotham.

The team stared after them for a moment. Then Connor said, "What the heck was that?"

The others could only shrug and turn away, heading back to whatever they had been doing before. But Wally smiled, knowing that his friend was in good hands.


End file.
